Aso
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Grand Subjugator Aso | |
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 A depiction of Aso. He wears a large robe to conceal his appearance and assumes the position of a beggar. The hole in his hand, which marks him as a Subjugator, betrays his true identity. | |
| Born | c. 1950 TT |
| Died | c. 1900 TT |
| Cause of death | Unknown cataclysmic event |
| Other names | The beggar |
| Title | Monarch |
Aso was the last monarch of T'vaqi. He ruled up until the unknown event which resulted in the collapse of the Qoa Lihi empire in 1900 TT. He is one of the most well-documented figures from the First Unification era.
Early life
Aso was born in southwestern T'vaqi, likely in a bunker, near modern-day Iamitala. He would have been raised by a group of his father's concubines until adolescence, as was typical for children with wealthy fathers. As a teenager it is likely he was transferred to a school for disciplinary training.
The first concretely known event of Aso's life is his promotion to subjugator[a 1] when he was about 20 years of age. Aso was responsible for a densely populated parcel of land near modern-day Thono. He governed the area adequately, as he was never removed from his position. After keeping his position for approximately a decade, Aso came to be Grand Subjugator[a 2] around the age of 30, holding power over the entirety of the island.
- ↑ In Qoa Lihi society, subjugators were the sole enforcers of empire law in a designated area, responsible for employing all citizens of the area in necessary labor. Subjugators had holes cut through their palms to mark their status.
- ↑ The official title for the Qoa Lihi monarch, meaning derived from context. The process by which Grand Subjugators were selected is not known.
Reign
Aso was an incredibly eccentric monarch. His demonstrably strange habits, which are corroborated by multiple records from the era, were held in disdain by the island's inhabitants; they included an outright refusal to accept valuable goods of any kind, and a fascination with the sky that led him to spend little time indoors. Despite his quirks, Aso was an adequate ruler, as he was not removed from his position. The first decade of his reign passed, as far as can be discerned, relatively uneventfully.
Records recount a dramatic shift in Aso's behavior after several years in power. While previously a detached but competent ruler, towards the end of his reign Aso began to depart from his duties for weeks at a time, neglecting his position entirely. He could not be found during these periods of departure; the empire was presumably kept running by its subjugators. It was discovered after years of his disappearances that Aso had been donning a large robe which concealed his appearance and posing as a beggar in various towns. He purportedly only accepted items which had no inherent value. By the time this habit became known, Aso had amassed an enormous pile of mostly useless items, which he kept in a secret bunker.
The degree of Aso's involvement in the Qoa Lihi collapse is unknown. It is likely that he perished during the event, though it is possible that he survived and simply lived out the rest of his life as a beggar.
Records
Most information about Aso comes from records after 1900 TT, which were created after the end of the First Unification but while Aso was still in living memory. Though few legible records have been uncovered from this narrow period of history, they have been enough to create a general outline of Aso's life. Records from before 1900 TT are nonexistent, though there exist artifacts claimed to have belonged to him; the most notable of these is a tattered Q'shasi fan which has his name etched into the handle.